The Good Times
by Psych101
Summary: An undercover investigation of a nearby University. The good times could prove dangerous. The rating does not mean it will be tasteless.
1. Late Night

**Don't own Teen Titans.**

"I can't think of any other solution." Robin had his head in his hands. His gloves lay discarded on the floor, and bare fingers pulled at unruly black hair. A cup of coffee, cold as ice, sat dangerously close to the edge of the desk.

Raven, sitting in a chair nearby with her similarly chilled cup of tea, thought he looked like an artist, a deep and unexpressed soul struggling to harness his own complexity and put it on canvas. But to be artistic was to be selfish, and Robin was doing what he did best; sacrificing his own health for the benefit of others. Despite this, she firmly believed that this time he had come to the wrong conclusion, and had to be firmly told as such.

"Try harder."

"This is me trying harder." Robin rarely grew impatient with his research, but this time he truly was coming up with an infuriating amount of nothing.

"Everything else is too dangerous. We can't do anything else until we know exactly what, if anything is going on. All of their lives are at stake, Raven."

"There are so many ways it could go wrong."

"Isn't it better that we take the risk now, before it's too late?"

Raven was silent. Robin, despite the late hour and the nature of their quest, smiled wanly. "You hate it when I'm right, don't you?"

"I don't think you're right." Raven was irked. "I think you're exhausted, and your brain is concocting irrational schemes."

"I have had some of my greatest breakthroughs at three in the morning."

"I can assure you, this is not one of them."

He did look exhausted; even his hair wasn't sticking up with its usual enthusiasm. She knew firsthand the amount of time he had spent on this project; she'd been there for most of it. She figured the guy had snatched her back from the grips of Hell, the least she could do was wait up with him while he worked.

While she was at it, she might as well be there to tell him his plan was a pile of horsesh-

"I consider my work here finished." Robin stood. "If you want to stay up and think of a better plan, be my guest. Otherwise, I'm filling the team in tomorrow."

He left her sitting there, glaring at him. When she thought he was gone, she narrowed here eyes at his desk. With a small contained pop, his mug burst into a few neat pieces. What little coffee that was left stained a few pages of notes.

Robin paused in the doorway, smirking a little when he heard her lose her temper. He knew she hated undercover stints, but it truly was his best option. He left the room completely, headed for a joyful reunion with his pillow.

_Besides_, he thought, peeling off his shirt. _It might be good for her._


	2. Accepted

**Don't own Teen Titans. Things will hopefully start picking up soon. Or not- unfortunately, I have to get the titans to college and get their mission rolling before things get exciting.**

Starfire was the last to arrive in the common room that morning, blinking away the sleep. The alarm had gone off twice, once around four and another time at six. The second time, she had let her guard down too early, only to be surprised by a seventh robber who had insofar escaped detection. He didn't last long, but had managed to give Star an egg sized lump on the back of her head. She probed the tender skin now, whishing her headache to go away.

"Everyone here?" Robin looked terrible.

"You look terrible, dude." Beast Boy took in the sunken, dark skin around his leaders eyes and, true to his nature, spoke his mind.

"At least he's not green," Raven snapped. She too seemed to be overly tired, and thus was exceptionally snippy this morning.

"Friends. I have the headache. Please?"

Beast Boy managed to silence his comeback, less for Starfires benefit and more for the mere lack of having anything quick witted to say.

"Look. I know last night was rough. It's been a rough couple of weeks. But I've made some decisions about the Greenly Case."

Raven sulked quietly. The others, however, looked interested.

"You guys all remember the general stuff, big university, radiation exposure and the subsequent cover up, etc. Some intelligence probing into the injuries came up with weird stuff, but people lawyered up, kept it all hush hush."

"Weird stuff," Cyborg concluded, "Which basically means people are starting to react to the radiation, and no one wants to take the blame."

"Right. I'm operating on the premise that some of the weird stuff that's been happening around Jump is a direct result of that spill. I'm willing to bet-" Robin turned to the computer screen and pulled up pictures that looked like images from a science fiction film. "-That some kids were affected. They drive up here on the weekends, and now we're seeing stuff like this." He indicated to a photo of a bank, the first floor of which was seemingly in the process of flowing out from under the rest of the building like lava.

"We all know radiation can cause mutations, and in the cases where subjects survive, superpowers." Robin nodded to Beast Boy, who puffed out his chest and grinned proudly.

"I guess I am pretty super, now that you mention it."

"You're also a result of a mutation." Raven quipped.

"It's called evolution baby!"

"Enough!" Cyborg said firmly, as Raven allowed an emotion to cross her face- murderous fury.

"As I was saying," Robin continued, irritated. "There are some pretty strong indications that we need to get involved here. I'd like to get in there and find out if these things are even happening, and if they are, make contact with people who've developed abilities, get them on our side, etc. There's also been some chatter at some of the seedier bars downtown that the Hive Academy has inserted agents into the school already, and if it's true that's something we definitely do _not_ want."

"So, you're saying…." Beast Boy paused. "So what are you saying?"

"Titans, congratulations. You've all been accepted to Greenly University."


	3. On Edge

_The little things_, Raven thought as she packed her books. Robin had said pack light, but there were two she couldn't leave behind. One was her current fascination; a book of illusionary spells. She wasn't sure her dark matter would be compatible with it, but it was an exciting prospect.

The other wasn't an old, dusty tome. It contained no spells, but was worn and yellowed from the thousands of turns its pages had seen. It was a story; Raven had never cared much for earthbound stories, but this one was set in India, a place so foreign to Jump that it might as well have been another dimension. The book told of the colors and the spicy smells and the way the people there wiggled their heads in greeting. In it's own, elegant way it was a love story, a tale of making a nearly divine connection with a way of life. She'd read it countless times and found comfort in it's familiarity.

There was also a recipe for handmade tea printed on the inside cover. No way was this staying at home.

The book sat on top of her clothes, a vibrant gold shimmer set against the denim and cotton. She zipped up her duffel and made to leave.

Robins fist nearly connected with her face; she had opened the door just as he was about to knock.

"Close one," He said, smiling and lowering his arm. "Can I come in?"

It was an odd request- the other Titans usually stood well away from the threshold of her room, preferring to conduct their conversation away from the line that for all intensive purposes defined them as Alive or Dead.

"Alright."

Robin stepped past her, making his way to the chair that sat facing the bed. She took this for herself, watching him take in her room. She realized he'd only ever seen what the door framed. Suddenly she was self-conscious.

It was smaller than he had previously assumed. It wasn't as cavelike- it was more nookish. Shelves of books took up two of the walls, and there were paintings in the remaining space. These were in deep reds and blues, but were intriguing, much less dark than what used to hang in their place.

"It's changed a little. Since." Raven said quietly. This was getting dangerously close to sharing, and he hadn't even said anything yet.

"I should have guessed. You've changed too. Him being gone has made all the difference."

"Well," She shrugged, uncomfortable. "You're bound to lighten up a little when your demon father has been imprisoned forever in a hellish dimension."

"So I know you're not happy about this mission."

"I'll get over it." She suddenly wanted him to leave. He was doing that annoying thing where he paid abnormal amounts of attention to her feelings. This was a recent phenomenon; she chalked it up to some kind of guilt for not noticing when she had been contemplating the impending end of the world.

"You can't lie to me as easily as everyone else, Raven."

She looked up at him sharply. Carefully, she responded, ignoring his reference to their personal connection.

"It's a lot of people for me to be around."

"I figured it was something like that."

She was annoyed. It appeared that her efforts to hinder the bond weren't working. There had been a strange… politeness to their communication, even if it wasn't words that were shared. It was a thing that had been uninhibited before, and now it felt like they both were keeping things they didn't understand in check. It's development had started somewhere around the time she had redecorated her room, after the welcome loss of her father, and it put her on edge.

"Look, I really think this is necessary. But I get that you're still working on some stuff. I'll try to make it as quick and painless as possible. Besides," He smiled. "You'll have us."

"Horray. Beast Boy and Starfire dragging me to a fat raging house party on Friday nights."

"Alright, fine. You'll have me at least."

Something about the phrase 'at least' sounded funny. Like she'd rather have heard the sentence without it. She squelched this thought pretty quickly.

"Look, I'm a part of the team. The team goes to college, I follow."

Robin had the strangest urge to say 'That's my girl' but feared for his physical well-being. He just gave her another smile.

"It won't be that bad. I promise." He stood to leave, not wanting to invade for longer than necessary.

"I'm going to hold you to that."

He chuckled as he closed the door behind him.

He made his way back to his room, a little jittery for some reason. He reached back in his mind for that little piece Raven had left there, and found it just as strained as it had been since their 'End of the World' shenanigans.

Something had changed, and it wasn't just Raven. He couldn't put his finger on it. Hopefully they could get through this mission before he had to address it.


End file.
